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APA102C

SPI RGB · APA Electronic · apa102 · clone of APA102

Channels
RGB
Bits / channel
8
Supply
5–5.5 V
PWM
20 kHz
Backup data
no
Packages
1

The variant most commonly actually stocked when a listing says “APA102”. Treated as a distinct protocol here only because the part numbers differ on reels and in BOMs.

Frame format

APA102C SPI frameAPA102C clocked frame: start frame, one 32-bit LED frame per pixel with brightness and colour bytes, and an end frame, plus data and clock waveforms1 · Frame stream (data clocked on CLK)Start frame32 × 0LED 132 bitsLED 232 bits…LED N32 bitsEnd frameclock ≥ N/2 edgeseach LED forwards what it does not keep on DO / CO2 · One LED frame: 32 bits, MSB first111brightB 8G 8R 83 marker bits (111), 5-bit global brightness 0–31, then 8-bit channels3 · DATA and CLK, first 8 bits of an LED frameDATACLK11110010111 markerbrightness bits 4..0data changes while CLK is low,LED samples on the rising edgeno fixed bit period: clock rateis set by the host
Frame layout: APA102-family 32-bit LED frames convention, see the protocol notes for end-frame differences
SourceT0HT0LT1HT1LPeriodRateReset±
datasheet — — — — — — — —

Clones & compatibility

“Compatible” is never stated bare here — each relationship carries how strong the claim is, and what bites if you assume too much.

  • drop in APA102

    A cost-reduced APA102 sold under a near-identical name. Driven identically; the difference is manufacturing, not protocol.

Library support

FastLED
APA102 ↗
Adafruit_DotStar
DOTSTAR_BGR
WLED
APA102

Parts using this protocol